Until the 87th minute in the World Cup match between Argentina and Nigeria on Tuesday, it looked like Argentina, one of the world's great soccer nations, would be eliminated from the competition in Russia. Lionel Messi, the Argentinian forward who also plays for Spanish soccer club, Barcelona, ...

Former NFL player and founder of a California megachurch, Miles McPherson is gearing up to host a &quot;Race for Unity&quot; simulcast in conjunction with the release of his new book, The Third Option: Hope for a Racially Divided Nation. The minister shared a sports metaphor which he says could ...

For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.” (John 6:44) Many quote this verse to show that apologetics is useless in evangelism. Of course, nothing will work if the Holy Spirit isn’t involved. Not apologetics, not sharing the gospel, not preaching, nothing.

From the time I was twenty-one, I felt desperate to serve God, and I had prayed fervently for him to use me. So, when leaders at my church asked for volunteers to serve on a cleanup team in the youth ministry, I said yes. When the assistant youth pastor asked me to help start a community youth center for at-risk teens, I said yes. When my senior pastor called me and said, “Christine, I want you to be the state director of our denomination’s youth movement, Youth Alive,” I said yes. I was passionate about Jesus and willing to serve in any way that would be useful for the kingdom of God. I had prayed, Here I am Lord, send me.

Happy Birthday, Eric!! You are one of the people that encourages me most in my walk with the Lord! I admire how you are bringing people together to talk about the important (and yes, unimportant) things of life! Bonhoeffer was inspiring and wonderful! Blessings!

Nudity itself is not a scandal but it’s the misuse of the nude human to be presented in a salacious way that’s abhorrent. It invites the buying and selling of nude bodies as a sexual object. Extremely disrespectful to the image of human beings. However,,those presented in Some art subjects aren’t disrespectful. Some art is presented as salacious to an Nth degree with selling sex clearly the subject. Some famous as collections as erotic art. Others as displays of violence and violent times. Even pictures of hell has nudes, but their tone is different than selling the body as just for sexual use only. What one feels personally when looking at nude’s pictures Is what sex sellers depend on. It’s prostitution in paperback form. True art has another theme in mind when presenting nudes that seems non sexual,,just a picture of what is or a happening.

True peace says, “Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord! O Lord, hear my voice” (Psalm 130:1–2). And it also says, “I have calmed and quieted my soul” (Psalm 131:2). Desperation mingled with confidence. Stability alongside restlessness. That is the paradox of authentic peace — of true inner peace in the chaos of our world, steady in Jesus Christ and empowered by his Spirit.

All rational discussions (even those related to the existence or non-existence of God) are directed and restrained by the Laws of Logic. Only theism, however, can adequately account for the existence of these transcendent laws . If God exists, He is the absolute, objective, transcendent standard of truth; the Laws of Logic are simply a reflection of His nature. They exist as an extension of His rational thinking, and for this reason, they are as eternal as God Himself. Is God real? Without God as a source for the transcendent Laws of Logic, this question (and any logical journey toward the answer) would be impossible to engage.

Christians see the number of translations as a good thing—more people are able to read God’s word in their own language. Others, however, seem to think the number of translations is a bad thing. In fact, they cite the number of translations in order to call into question the Bible’s reliability.

It is a good question, and I would expect nothing less from the friend who had asked it. Its not just a question those outside of Christianity would have. I would expect only a few people could provide a well-reasoned answer in any given congregation on a Sunday morning. So, let me attempt a brief reply. I know the best way to tackle any problem is to understand what you are addressing clearly. The first step is to define terms (sometimes just doing that can give you an answer). Let’s hear what the Oxford Dictionary has to say:

Yesterday, by 5-4 vote, the Supreme Court ruled that a California law that would have required pregnancy care centers to, in effect, promote abortion violated the First Amendment’s guarantee of Freedom of Speech. #LibertyofConscience #SCOTUS bit.ly/2IvrS9t pic.twitter.com/Q9rTVieXSM

The Christian church teaches that the four canonical gospels—the New Testament accounts of Jesus’ birth, teachings, death, and resurrection—were written by eyewitnesses to the events they describe, or by persons with access to eyewitness testimony. Church history tells us that the gospels of John and Matthew, for example, were written by two of Jesus’ original twelve disciples. The Gospel According to Mark was written, we are told, by a follower of Peter, another disciple. Finally, The Gospel According to Luke was apparently written by a companion of Paul who interviewed disciples and other eyewitnesses. As a result, the church argues that these documents reflect direct, eyewitness testimony, and are reliable historical documents.

While I knew my dad meant well, for the first time I really started to wonder: What if Jesus is not God? What if I grew up in another religion? Could Darwinism be true, and if so, what would it mean for my faith? And so on. But the biggest issue that really tripped me up was the claim that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus was copied from the mystery religions of the ancient near east.

As we continue our introduction of fundamental apologetics concepts, we move onto the second of the “Big Three” apologetics arguments: the teleological argument. The teleological argument, like the cosmological argument, is a logical defense of God predicated upon the observable universe. In other words, it is a way to prove God’s existence by looking at things in the physical universe.

Ladies, I’m sorry if you don’t want to admit what the bible clearly says about things like racism, slavery, genocide, misogyny, honor killings, human sacrifice, etc. but your denial doesn’t change what it says. I don’t need an education in how to read it correctly, you need a morality lesson in intellectual honesty. Your dogmatic beliefs have blinded you to an honest reading of the texts. And there you go again Susan, attacking my character and saying that I never was a Christian. I guess you’re able to judge the heart. Maybe you are god Susan. You are an arrogant, self righteous woman.

As a young father myself, I wanted to understand what caused the young men and women in our community to become gang members in the first place. It certainly didn’t seem to have anything to do with their race, culture or economic status, given the fact that they didn’t share any of these attributes.

This book had great potential, when he actually gets into the apologetic part of the book it's great material.there are principles in this book, that if studied and applied would definitely help equip one to defend their faith. I especially like the portion of this book that harmonize the gospels and feel that any Christian can benefit from that study, Pearson does a great job reconciling so called contradictions in the new testament. The only negatives is this book is slow getting started, and very much overillistrates, a lot more apologetic material could have been implemented in this book if not for the many illustrations.

Some time ago I wrote a post called “ Why I Trust the Bible .” In that article, I gave five reasons why I personally believe the Bible to be trustworthy. There are, of course, many more reasons than that to believe the Bible is true, so I thought it would be a good idea to share five more reasons why we can trust the Bible. We have confidence in the Bible as God’s true and trusted speech to us because:

Justice Thomas answered that requiring doctors to talk about adoption when discussing abortion makes sense. People at abortion facilities are considering that medical procedure. They need to know their options. But women at pregnancy care centers are looking for life-affirming options. So advocating for abortion is not the goal or intent. Pregnancy Care Centers are staffed mostly with volunteers. They exist to offer women other choices, not abortion. Requiring people to act as a sales team for a service they don’t support or sell is a violation of free speech rights.

In 1 Corinthians 2:2. Paul says, “I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” Like Paul, pastors must never tire of preaching Jesus. Pastors do not preach the words of men. They do not preach themselves. They do not preach their own wisdom or man-made techniques. They preach Christ and Him crucified. Jesus himself is the very heart of our message. All the promises of God are yes and amen in Jesus. Christ is all.

Speaking to Premier, Jonathan Graham, policy adviser for the Salvation Army said: "There are obviously some very clear problems in how the system current functions and I think a lot of those are to do with how the system is funded and in particular how that system disadvantages people who, in later life, don't necessarily own their own home so aren't allowed to put the value of those homes up as collateral against the costs of their care.

"Rules Without Reasons: Why the Culture Is Eating Evangelicals for Lunch." If left unchecked, this evangelical loss-of-touch with creation and the natural framework within which revealed truths make sense will quickly erode confidence in the Bible itself. bit.ly/2Itpksg pic.twitter.com/zpzsAQuNPf

Officials warn only specialists can identify these clinical benchmarks—I don’t buy that at all. Many kids, and extended adolescent adults, are using gaming to escape from reality. I've seen it from teenagers to grown men. bit.ly/2KlHY7u pic.twitter.com/VpKNO0mtbB

This easy to read book uses scientific and philosophical truths to prove that God must exist as the foundation for science. Robinson maintains that rejecting God is illogical, unscientific, and to requires blind faith. 'Science Requires God' demonstrates that the first cause, the Big Bang theory, genetic information, and the fine tuning of the universe presuppose and require God. Intended to provide assured proof and powerful evidence for God, this captivating volume evaluates modern science and demonstrates that the scientific method requires God. Robinson addresses such subjects as the origin of life; the DNA code and its origin; the nature and scope of unguided evolution; and the scope and boundaries of science. Fascinating and thoroughly argued, it is an illuminating look at the foundation of science: God. In 'Science Requires God,' distinguished author and Biblical scholar Mike A. Robinson demonstrates the surprising parallels between a variety of Biblical teachings and the findings of biology, cosmology, and quantum physics. 'Science Requires God' is a brilliant and wide-ranging discussion regarding vital topics that have divided science and religion—the grounds for science, the development of the cosmos, the origin of life, and the origin of humanity.

Asking for a cause of a cause in no way disputes the reasonableness and efficacy of the initial cause of the effect in question. If we ask for the cause of a cause of every effect, we cannot know anything. We can easily rest with the knowledge of what cause is sufficient to create an effect, and we don't have to have all the answers to come to a reasonable conclusion. For example, suppose that during an expedition an archaeologist uncovers a sculpture of a human bust. What is the most reasonable inference regarding the origin of the sculpture? Isn't the most reasonable position that a person created the sculpture? Suppose the archaeologist is simply unable to tell us anything else about the artist who formed it. He doesn't know anything about the group to which this person belonged. He doesn't know if the artist was male or female. He doesn't know anything about the artist. Does this lack of knowledge of the final cause, in any way, cast aspersions on his inference that the cause of the sculpture was an artist? Not at all. Our subsequent knowledge of the details of the cause is all gravy.

Remember that ALL of us have a point of view, but this does not necessarily mean we are unfairly biased. Bias has nothing to do with holding a viewpoint. Bias occurs when this viewpoint eliminates certain forms of evidence and evidential conclusions before we even begin the investigation. And while atheists may argue that Christians have this kind of bias, a quick examination of the culture’s reliance on science reveals that just the opposite is true. I bet you’ve heard a friend say something similar to: “I am a science and evidence person. Truth can only be determined empirically, and science is the only way to really know truth.” When people make statements like this, they may be revealing something more than a point of view; they may be exposing a rigid bias that is grounded in an over-reliance on science known as “scientism”. There are three dangers in over estimating the ability of science to determine truth:

Notice how atheists who believe in real right and wrong make a massive intellectual leap of faith. They believe that somehow moral facts were eternally part of the “furniture” of reality but that from impersonal and valueless slime, human persons possessing rights, dignity, worth, and duties were eventually produced.

Here’s how to get started again: Humble yourselves and admit your failure. Confess to your wife your sin. Go apart with God and plan a week of devotions with her and the family. Announce to them that a new day is dawning on the home front. Then lead them to God. This is so threatening to some of you it makes you tense to think of it. You will have to swallow so much pride. But be courageous. Fear is a scrawny enemy. Do not let him conquer you. I promise you that once you have gotten over the first hill, a new world will open before you. The ugly guilt will be gone. The sense of failure will be gone. The uncertainty of your love for God and the family will be gone. And a dozen areas of tension in your marriage will be healed which you did not know had anything to do with family devotions.

If people don’t educate themselves on the subject and use multiple sources of information, they won’t know that refugees go through a vetting process before moving to a shelter country. The lack of knowledge and understanding is a huge issue today 😔

People we meet and audiences we address frequently ask us for brief descriptions of the best scientific evidences for God. Depending on individual backgrounds, what is best for one person will be different for someone else. However, in the more than 30-year history of Reasons to Believe, one or more of the following five have proven most effective in persuading modern-day non-theists that the God of the Bible really does exist:

More and more young people are leaving the church. Statistics show that once your children leave for college, they’re probably going to abandon their faith. Men, what are you going to do about that? Are you going to sit back and watch that happen, or are you going to fight for your children’s faith? Studying apologetics will give you the tools to inoculate your children against the false worldviews and beliefs they will certainly encounter in school and on social media.

Ever since I’ve heard about Jesus mythycists, the question I’ve always wanted to ask them is: “What are you smoking?!” Furthermore, I frankly wonder why anyone takes them seriously. If history is at all knowable, with any degree of certainty, then the New Testament is one of THE most remarkable and reliable primary sources in the ancient world! I think it’s interesting - that radical critics & skeptics of the New Testament read quite a bit of material in order to “debunk” it as a hoax or as mythology, but they curiously don’t read about the history of critics and skeptics of the past, whose own theories been debunked and disproven. Through the years, The New Testament has stood strong like a stone-clad lighthouse anchored to bedrock, while the waves, foam and torrents of the critics have crashed against it to no affect (John 10:35b).